As Nick Pavelich tells it, in the deadpan cadence of a stand-up comedian, the conversation with Sam Williamson on the subject of staging a two-man version of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" went fairly quickly. "We'd worked together on 'Macbeth,' " Pavelich said, "and I sent him a text. I said 'How about two-man Shakespeare'? Sam said, 'Yeah, what show?' And I said, 'Well, probably "Romeo and Juliet," huh?' And he said, 'Yeah, that's right.' " "It's the only acceptable answer," Williamson said. The inspiration for their production is as simple as that: a serious tribute to Shakespeare's language, sans...

Kansas appears on the verge of becoming among the most welcoming states to people who want to pack heat. A bill promising Kansans the ability to carry concealed firearms — without taking safety training or weathering the background checks required in most of the country — won initial approval in the state Senate on Wednesday. The change, expected to pass Thursday to a likely receptive House, would make Kansas a “constitutional carry” state. That would mean citizens would not need a permit to carry a hidden gun. The bill would maintain the current permit process for people who want to...

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline has stirred considerable debate about the future of American energy policy. While the Senate’s recent vote to block its construction tables the discussion for the time being, it does not resolve major questions about how the U.S. transports oil today. With the ongoing shale gas boom, the U.S. is set to pass Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil producer. Looking beyond KXL, such a rapid rise in production means American transportation networks are straining under new pressures to safely and efficiently move all this energy between different markets. The following figures show how Keystone...

Here are the 10 most bizarre Tea Party bills currently being debated in the Montana Legislature, which is now controlled by the right wing of the Republican Party. Some of these bills, believe it or not, have a chance of making it to the governor’s desk. 1) Prepare for National Ammunition shortage (SB 122). When Obama comes to get our guns and bullets, Montana will be ready... 2) Establish Armed Militias in Every Town (SB 130). Even if we have enough bullets, Montana could still be in grave danger from the federal government... 3) Require that nipples and areolae be...

Mesa County commissioners on Tuesday directed Mesa County Attorney Patrick Coleman to draft a notice of intent to sue the federal government over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s listing of the Gunnison sage-grouse as a threatened species. Gunnison County filed its own notice of intent in December to bring civil action against the Fish and Wildlife Service for, the county believes, improperly listing the bird as a threatened species and naming Gunnison County and acreage in a handful of other Colorado and Utah counties, including Mesa, as critical habitat for the sage-grouse. Mesa County decided to follow with its...

HARRISON, Mont. — After Spencer Ore was banned from a Montana high school in 2013 for bringing two pistols to campus and was accused of making threats, his parents sought help with the hope that one day he'd reintegrate into society. Margaret and Stephen Ore visited him every weekend while he was in juvenile detention. They invested in nearly two years of treatment for underlying behavioral problems. When his doctors and probation officers said Spencer, now 16, was well enough to return to public school, the Ores moved across the state to enroll him at a school in quiet, rural...

Yoga pants are under attack. Lately, they have been a hot topic on Facebook, blogs and other corners of the web. Some say they are too tight. Others complain that we, as a society, have lost all sense of modesty. The question has been posed: Should women wear yoga pants in public? For one state legislator in Montana, the struggle against yoga pants is real. No. Seriously. From the Billings Gazette:

A Montana homeowner was sentenced to 70 years in prison for the “stand your ground” killing of German exchange student. Markus Kaarma, 30, was convicted in December of deliberate homicide after he gunned down 17-year-old Diren Dede in his garage. He’ll have to serve 20 years before he’s eligible for parole.

HELENA – The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a lower-court decision that had thrown out state laws requiring parents to be notified and give consent before their underage daughter could get an abortion. The 4-1 decision said District Judge Jeff Sherlock of Helena erred when he ruled that the questions of the constitutionality of the 2011 and 2013 laws are essentially the same as had been settled when a 1995 parental-notification law was ruled unconstitutional in 1999. That ruling sends the case back to Sherlock’s court, where Attorney General Tim Fox will now defend the laws against a lawsuit...

Montana legislators will consider Wednesday afternoon whether to join every other state in the nation in putting anti-bullying policy into law. A bill being introduced by Democrat Rep. Kimberly Dudik in the Montana House Education Committee would define bullying, prohibit it in public schools and require that public school districts enact their own policies addressing bullying. […] Julie Hertzog, director of PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, said most state laws enforcing bullying definitions and procedures were enacted in the mid-2000s, with updates like cyberbullying provisions being added every year. She said the laws build better environments for kids to learn...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that both Nevada and Tennessee have joined the Lone Star state's challenge of President Obama's executive amnesty, bringing the total number of states fighting Obama's unilateral immigration policies to 26. “Texas is proud to lead a coalition that now includes a majority of the United States standing up against the President’s rogue actions,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. “The momentum against the President's lawlessness continues to build with Tennessee and Nevada joining the effort to protect our states from the economic and public safety implications of illegal amnesty. As President...

Here is the full text of the bill: A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT PROVIDING FOR AN ENHANCED SENTENCE FOR A PERSON CONVICTED OF A FORCIBLE FELONY AGAINST A PREGNANT WOMAN." BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA: NEW SECTION. Section 1. Additional sentence for forcible felony against pregnant woman. (1) An offender who is convicted of committing a forcible felony, as defined in 45-2-101, against a pregnant woman and who, at the time of the offense, knew or should have known that the woman was pregnant shall, in addition to the punishment provided...

Officials in Montana say they have detected traces of oil in the water supply of the town of Glendive, days after up to 50,000 gallons of oil spilled from a break in a pipeline along the Yellowstone River. NPR's Kirk Siegler is reporting on the story for our Newscast unit. He says: "The EPA and other emergency responders are having bottled water shipped to ... Glendive. Preliminary tests have indicated that some traces of oil have entered Glendive's water supply. There have been no reports yet of injuries, but the damage assessment is ongoing and everything is being hampered by...

The fate of the oil that flows through the Keystone XL pipeline and the source of the steel used to make it are set to be decided this week in the U.S. Senate. The chamber is expected to vote on as many as three amendments to GOP-backed legislation to authorize the TransCanada Corp. pipeline on Tuesday, with more than four dozen other possibilities on the horizon. Few are without controversy, and many are meant to send a message or put senators in a difficult spot, casting votes on such issues as protectionism, oil spills and climate change. The first three...

The surviving members of a legendary force of Canadian and U.S. soldiers will be honoured in Washington for their courage and bravery -- and the rough-and-tough tactics that helped win the Second World War. Known as the Devil's Brigade, the elite fighting force was made up of roughly 1,800 Canadians and Americans, many of them lumberjacks, miners and rural tough guys with survival skills. They were tasked with getting behind enemy lines and waging unconventional warfare against the enemy. The surviving veterans will be presented with a Congressional Gold Medal on Feb. 2, by leaders of the U.S. House and...

Not since the multiplication of the loaves and fishes near the Sea of Galilee has there been creativity as miraculous as that of the Keystone XL pipeline. It has not yet been built but already is perhaps the most constructive infrastructure project since the Interstate Highway System. It has accomplished an astonishing trifecta: It has made mincemeat of Barack Obama’s pose of thoughtfulness. It has demonstrated that he lacks even a rudimentary understanding of the most basic economic realities. It has dramatized environmentalism’s descent into infantilism. Obama entered the presidency trailing clouds of intellectual self-regard. His carefully cultivated persona was...

The Senate will start debate on Monday on a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline as Republicans, who have made the project their first priority of the year, try to line up enough votes to overcome a potential veto by President Barack Obama. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, a co-sponsor of the bill to approve TransCanada Corp's pipeline, has about 63 supporters, including all 54 Republicans. That is four short of the 67 needed to overcome an Obama veto. The White House has said the president would reject the bill if it reaches his desk. Hoeven said...

Democratic vulnerabilities appear to be limited to just two states. Former Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Michael Bennet’s re-election in Colorado is rated as Leans Democratic. His home-state colleague, Democrat Mark Udall, was defeated in November. And Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid can expect a tough race in Nevada if he seeks re-election. His race is also rated Leans Democratic, as Republicans search for a challenger. ... Four of the nine seats Democrats lost in 2014 were listed as Tossups nearly two years before the election. In January 2013, Alaska, Montana and North Carolina were rated as Leans Democratic, and...

It was 2008 when TransCanada initially filed an application with the U.S. government to construct the multibillion-dollar Keystone XL pipeline to carry up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. Illinois Senator Barack Obama had just secured the presidential nomination for the Democratic Party. Hurricane Ike made landfall, Usain Bolt set world records at the summer Olympics, and the Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. More than six years and many significant historical events later, TransCanada still does not have approval to build an environmentally safe pipeline that would create jobs and...

Washington, DC – Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today issued a Secretarial Order calling for a comprehensive science-based strategy to address the more frequent and intense wildfires that are damaging vital sagebrush landscapes and productive rangelands, particularly in the Great Basin region of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California. The strategy will begin to be implemented during the 2015 fire season. Goals include reducing the size, severity and cost of rangeland fires, addressing the spread of cheatgrass and other invasive species, and positioning wildland fire management resources for more effective rangeland fire response. “Targeted action is urgently needed to...

Utah passed a law in 2012 demanding the federal government give up about 31 million acres, about 50 percent of the state, by Dec. 31, 2014. ... Ivory and other supporters of the land transfer say the state’s legal claim lies in the Utah Enabling Act, which led to Utah’s statehood in 1896. .. If Utah pursues a lawsuit, the state attorney general’s office has warned lawmakers they need to avoid flawed theories or inconsistent arguments used by western states in the 1970s and 1980s during a similar push known as the Sagebrush Rebellion. ... Montana, Wyoming and Nevada have...

Like a lot of other dramatic bluster coming south out of Canada this winter, the Keystone XL pipeline stands poised for its big approval fight this month. Advocates claim it will put Montana in the mix for North American energy independence. Opponents say it will allow the most polluting oil on the planet to contribute to global warming while putting water supplies at risk. The U.S. Senate fell one vote short of approving Keystone during its lame-duck session last month, even though President Barack Obama threatened to veto the measure. But what if it doesn’t matter? While the Keystone project...

Authorities: Man shot, killed by Missoula police officer was strangling girlfriend 22 hours ago • KATHRYN HAAKE Missoulian MISSOULA -- The Missoula man who was killed by a city police officer Wednesday morning was allegedly strangling his girlfriend in the car before the officer fired the lethal shot. Authorities haven't released the names of the officer or the deceased man. Police initially responded to a 9-1-1 domestic disturbance call at a Missoula home involving two women and the 20-year-old man. The time was 2:04 a.m. The man fled the scene, taking his girlfriend hostage, Missoula County sheriff's spokeswoman Paige Pavalone...

Flathead, Lincoln counties could lose millions if Secure Rural Schools is not reauthorized. Congress recently passed a $1 trillion spending bill to keep the United States government in operation, but missing from that bill are the funds that many counties in Montana have come to rely on in their annual budgets. The budget bill dropped $330 million in funding from Secure Rural Schools, a federal program run through the U.S. Forest Service providing funding for counties and schools. Last year, Flathead County received just over $1.6 million in SRS funding; roughly $1,067,000 went toward the county’s road department, and the...

Just days before he shot to death a 17-year-old German exchange student, Markus Kaarma told hair stylists he had been waiting up to shoot some kids who were burglarizing homes. He told them they would see it on the news. Kaarma hoped to bait an intruder by leaving his garage door partially open and placing a purse inside, prosecutors said. And when he did, a motion detector alerted him early April 27. Kaarma took a shotgun outside and almost immediately fired four blasts into the garage. Diren Dede, unarmed, was hit twice. He died after the final shot hit him...

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana violated state law in its campaign against a Billings Republican in the 2014 elections, the state Commissioner of Political Practices has ruled. Commissioner Jonathan Motl, in an opinion issued Monday, said Planned Parenthood Advocates failed to notify GOP legislative candidate Tonya Shellnutt of attack ads targeting her in the last 10 days before the Nov. 4 election. State law requires that candidates receive notice of attacks launched during the election cycle’s last 10 days so they can respond. Planned Parenthood Advocates acknowledged to Motl that its attack against Shellnutt didn’t comply with state law, then...

The Senate voted to pass its annual National Defense Authorization Act on Friday , sending Montana’s first wilderness additions in 33 years to President Barack Obama’s desk. The National Defense Authorization Act authorizes $585 billion in Pentagon discretionary spending and $63.7 billion in overseas contingency operations.It also includes a package of 70 public land management bills; the biggest collection since the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. They create about 250,000 acres of new wilderness designations and protection of other lands from energy development. Other measures open thousands of acres to logging in Alaska and swaps federal lands for...

".....Yuma,Colorado, a farming town of 3,500 people near the Kansas border, celebrated last month as homegrown Republican Cory Gardner was elected to the U.S. Senate. Gardner, a high school football player and the son of a farm equipment dealer, defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall to help the GOP gain control of the Senate in the second-most expensive congressional race of all time.Gardner represented Colorado’s 4th Congressional District for four years, an expansive territory that covers the mostly flat and rural eastern third of the state. Farmers there mostly grow corn to feed cattle, and water comes from the quickly...

A teen who was with a German exchange student the night he was fatally shot in a Montana garage testified at the homeowner’s murder trial that his friend thought burglarizing garages was a game and didn’t know he could get shot. Robby Pazmino told jurors Tuesday that he and Diren Dede went for a walk late April 26 when they noticed Markus Kaarma’s garage door partially open. Pazmino says he asked Dede if he was “going there.” Dede didn’t respond, so Pazmino says he waited down the street. He testified that he heard the first shot and started running. Pazmino...

This past summer, Montana resident Markus Kaarma pleaded not guilty to killing a 17-year-old German exchange student who had entered his garage. At the time, his lawyer said he would defend Kaarma using the state's version of the "castle doctrine," which says that a man's home is his castle and can be defended as such. Opening statements concluded today in Kaarma's murder trial with prosecutors alleging that he shot Diren Dede in cold blood. Paul Ryan, Kaarma's attorney, said his client, who had been burgled before, was acting in self-defense. Kaarma fired four times without warning after an intruder tripped...

Among Democrats, fighting is breaking out all over. The SenateÂ’s third-ranking Democrat, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), is hurling criticisms toward the White House over Barack ObamaÂ’s handling of the recession and his myopic and politically ruinous obsession with reforming the nationÂ’s health care system amid that economic downturn.In response, the White House took what Reuters called the Â“unusual stepÂ” of publicly pledging to veto an overdue plan to reform the nationÂ’s tax code which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has been in the process of negotiating with House Republicans. When Obama announced his intention to extend legal status to...

Voter Fraud AmmoLand Gun News MISSOULA, MONT. --(Ammoland.com)- Independent House District 94 candidate Gary Marbut has filed a lawsuit in Missoula District Court questioning county-created ballots posted late on election night that turned the election in favor of his opponent.In question are two small posts totaling 192 votes that were applied to the HD 94 race, at 11 PM on election night and 2 AM the next morning, that changed the outcome of the race. Two professional statisticians have examined this data and assert that there is less than a .00017% chance that these late ballots came from the same...

One Democratic congressman is so opposed to the Keystone XL Pipeline that he wouldn’t vote for it even if his party got a minimum-wage bump from Republicans in exchange. “I wouldn’t make that trade,” Rep. Keith Ellison, Minnesota Democrat, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” of a hypothetical raise to $9.50 per hour. Senate Democrats late Tuesday filibustered a measure to green-light the contentious oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast, potentially dooming the chances of party colleague Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and underscoring the power of the pro-environment caucus. Republicans vowed to put President Obama’s veto pen to the...

Montana Marriage Ban Overturned; Licenses Granted HELENA, Mont. — Nov 19, 2014 By LISA BAUMANN A federal judge on Wednesday overturned the state gay marriage ban in Montana, one of the last states to continue defending its ban despite rulings in favor of same-sex marriage from appeals courts that oversee them. At least two counties ? Missoula and Park ? started issuing marriage licenses to gay couples soon after, while court clerks elsewhere in the state geared up to do so Thursday. U.S. District Judge Brian Morris ruled Montana's constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a man and a woman violates...

The Senate narrowly rejected legislation to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, handing a defeat to the oil industry and dealing a major blow to Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who staked her political career on the outcome. The Senate voted 59-41 for the legislation, falling one vote shy of the 60 needed for passage under the deal bringing it to the floor. But Keystone supporters insisted the defeat would be short-lived. Republican leaders are vowing to try again after they take over the chamber in January — when they will have more than enough votes to get a measure...

President Barack Obama might be open to using the Keystone pipeline as leverage with Republicans if they cooperate on other aspects of his long-stalled domestic agenda, such as investing in infrastructure, closing tax loopholes or reducing carbon emissions. After years of fighting over TransCanada's crude oil pipeline from Canada, a Keystone deal is not entirely out of the question, sources inside the administration and others close to the White House told Reuters on Tuesday. With the Senate's narrow defeat of a Keystone bill on Tuesday, Obama avoided the awkward position of possibly vetoing a bill supported by members of his...

Six years into a wait for the approvals to operate the newest section of the Keystone Pipeline system, TransCanada has already spent $2.4 billion on the project. TransCanada had hoped that it would have the permits for its Keystone XL pipeline within two years, since the first phase of the Keystone Pipeline system was reviewed and approved in 23 months. But it’s been more than six years since TransCanada filed its application to build the Keystone XL expansion, and it has still not been approved. Facing environmental pressures from his liberal base if he approves the pipeline and strife from...

President Obama is fond of telling Congress that it should pass things with the overwhelming support of the American people, including (among other things) comprehensive immigration reform, increasing the minimum wage, and increasing gun background checks. And yet, Obama could soon be in a position of vetoing something with a similar amount of support: the Keystone XL pipeline. Poll after poll has shown support for Keystone is somewhere between very strong and overwhelming. A Pew Research Center survey this month showed support for the project at nearly two-to-one, 59 percent to 31 percent. And that was about the lowest level...

Federal wildlife officials have granted protection to the Gunnison sage grouse, a move that could to bring restrictions on oil and gas drilling and other land uses to preserve the bird's habitat in Colorado and Utah. ... They're related to the greater sage grouse, which is at the center of a separate and larger debate over federal protection across 11 Western states.

The white supremacist organisation, 'Ku Klux Klan', infamous for racism and violence, is reportedly rebranding itself and opening its doors – quite surprisingly – to other members of the society such as Jews, Blacks, Hispanics and gays. ..... The white supremacist group 'Ku Klux Klan' is reportedly rebranding to including jews, black people and gays.... The move reportedly comes after John Abarr, a KKK member from Great Falls in Montana, had a discussion with the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NCAAP), although it is not exactly clear what they talked about. Abarr is a now a reformed...

House Republicans will have their largest majority since the 1930s next year, but that doesn't mean Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) job will be easy.The House GOP leadership's struggles in keeping members in line over the past four years have been well documented. Some of the incoming freshmen will likely join the ranks of conservatives who frequently oppose leadership initiatives.Among the new freshmen, for instance, is one congressman-elect who has called Hillary Clinton the "anti-Christ," another who has suggested Muslims don't deserve First Amendment rights, and yet another who has declared himself open to the idea of the United States invading...

The Navy SEAL who shot dead al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is now reportedly living in poverty after leaving the military four years short of being eligible to receive his pension, he claims. Robert O’Neill, 38, from Montana, went public with his identity after meeting family members of 9/11 terror attack victims, he told the Washington Post. And now the heroic commando is saying he was left high and dry by the government he dedicated his life to serving. “The families told me it helped bring them some closure,” said O’Neill, of killing the al-Qaeda founder. O’Neill will also be...

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus predicted Tuesday that the GOP regaining control of the Senate would mean a signature from President Barack Obama on a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Getting approval for TransCanada’s pipeline, which has been waiting six years to break ground on the project, would be among the top priorities for a Republican-controlled Senate, Priebus told MSNBC’s Daily Rundown. “We will pass a budget in both chambers, number one, and we will pass the Keystone pipeline, number two,” Priebus said. “And I actually think the president will sign the bill on the Keystone pipeline...

Fox News projects that Republicans are making another two pick-ups in the battle for the Senate. This brings their total so far to five, with just six needed to take control of the Senate. In Montana, Republican Steve Daines is projected to defeat Democrat Amanda Curtis, flipping control of the seat to the Republican Party for the first time since 1913. In Colorado, GOP Rep. Cory Gardner is projected to oust first-term Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, one of the most closely watched contests in this election cycle Republicans have picked up three Senate seats, Fox News projects, bringing them halfway...

New Polls Show Republicans Pulling Away In Key Senate Races November 02, 2014 Republican Senate candidates are pulling away in the final days of key races, according to polls released this weekend. Republicans are either leading in Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana or will likely win runoff elections, according to a NBC/Marist poll released Sunday. In addition, the Republican nominee in Iowa, Joni Ernst, now has a 7-point lead over Democratic challenger Rep Bruce Braley, according to a Des Moines Register poll released Saturday. Most polls have shown until now that the four races have essentially been deadlocked in the closing...

Montana wildlife officials are dropping a proposal to keep confidential the names of hunters and trappers who kill wildlife in Montana. ... That information is now available under the state's right-to-know laws. Some hunters and trappers had claimed they were being harassed by people who had obtained the information.